The magic of cruise ships

Right before I started high school in 1993, my mom and I cruised on Sovereign of the Seas - the biggest cruise ship in the world at the time. I remember this ship being HUGE compared to anything I've ever seen, especially next to a much smaller RCI ship we sailed on in Mexico. I remember being in awe that had 13 floors (according to the elevator), getting lost on the ship and never running out of new areas to explore. I swear both my mom and I suffered post cruise depression for two weeks after we went home.

Fast forward to 2007, my mom and I went up to Alaska and sailed on Splendour of the Seas. Coming upon it, I was sad to see it was so much smaller than the Sovereign. I figured the Caribbean was more accommodating to large vessels, and a ship needed to be small and nimble to navigate the Alaskan straits. Hmm...

I finally looked up numbers today and was shocked at how wrong I was. Tonnage wise, Splendour is 69,130 GT, Sovereign is 73,192 GT -- only a fraction of a difference! (Note: according to stats on Wikipedia).

Then I looked up pictures of Sovereign and I couldn't believe it. Looking at it now it looks so tiny.

The point of this post is how magical it can be to encounter a magnificent cruise ship. That experience left such an impression of my tween self, that for years I held this illusion that Sovereign was the biggest, baddest b!tch on the seas.

Even more insane, my family and I are booked on Symphony this summer. Again, we are going to be on the reigning biggest cruise ship in the world. Symphony is 228,081 GT!! That three times the size of Sovereign!! I can't wait for my mind to be blown again.

Cool memories. Enjoy Symphony. I booked her for February 2020. :)

The Sovereign was also my first cruise ship cruise ( 4 years in the Navy), I have also been on the Monarch 3 times and the Majesty 13 times. I really like the smaller ship feel.

One thingI don’t understand is that the Norway was bigger in 1993 so why do people say sovereign was the largest back then. I’ve seen this stated on many threads.

Norway was bigger in GT 76k and was longer. Was it height they were using?

We were amazed by Allure of the Seas, a sister to Symphony. After sailing 25 cruises and ships of all sizes. It was not because of her size as we don't get amazed by a size anymore.

Our wow was caused by absolutely incredible and different from what we've seen before design. We were like kids running everywhere with our cameras and open jaws. :)

One thingI don’t understand is that the Norway was bigger in 1993 so why do people say sovereign was the largest back then. I’ve seen this stated on many threads.

 

Norway was bigger in GT 76k and was longer. Was it height they were using?

As built Norway was smaller before they added on the extra decks. Also I believe Norway was an Ocean Liner, not a Cruise Ship. So in 1988 Sovereign 73,192 GT was the worlds largest ship Cruise Ship/Ocean Liner when Launched then after 1990 Worlds Largest Cruise Ship. I remember Norway had such deep draft most Caribbean ports she had to Tender in. Norway:

• 66,343 GT (1961)
  
• 70,202 GT (1984)
  
• 76,049 GT (1990)
  

As built Norway was smaller before they added on the extra decks. Also I believe Norway was an Ocean Liner, not a Cruise Ship. So in 1988 Sovereign 73,192 GT was the worlds largest ship Cruise Ship/Ocean Liner when Launched then after 1990 Worlds Largest Cruise Ship. I remember Norway had such deep draft most Caribbean ports she had to Tender in. Norway:

• 66,343 GT (1961)
  
• 70,202 GT (1984)
  
• 76,049 GT (1990)
  

Well let just say that Royal was really stretching to make these claims after 1990. Whether original or not Norway was bigger. Wider beam, 150 feet or more longer and she had higher GT.

Ocean liner vs cruise ship is quite a distinction. In 1993 Norway was a Caribbean cruise ship? Was harmony an ocean liner when I did my TA in 2016? Lol.

Pretty funny the games royal plays with on “biggest the in the world designations”. Many booking the newest oasis class ships have no idea they were like 6 inches longer than the prior. I guess they have been at this game for decades. Not shocking given their math on sale prices.

Well let just say that Royal was really stretching to make these claims after 1990. Whether original or not Norway was bigger. Wider beam, 150 feet or more longer and she had higher GT.

 

Ocean liner vs cruise ship is quite a distinction. In 1993 Norway was a Caribbean cruise ship? Was harmony an ocean liner when I did my TA in 2016? Lol.

 

Pretty funny the games royal plays with on “biggest the in the world designations”. Many booking the newest oasis class ships have no idea they were like 6 inches longer than the prior. I guess they have been at this game for decades. Not shocking given their math on sale prices.

From day one Royal always said "World's Largest Cruise Ship"... It's GT is what they count, it's not like Roller Coasters Tallest, Fastest, Longest. And now Largest Cruise Ship is all thats said by all Cruise Lines... There is a distinction in Ocean Liner and Cruise ship as I said. Norway as built for speed(until they removed half her engines), Luxury, Deep Draft was like Queen Mary/Elizabeth, why she was long and narrow, nothing like Cruise ships which have flat bottom, tall and wide...

My love affair with cruising started when I was about 9-10yrs old and I would watch "The Love Boat". I imagined myself cruising to Puerto Vallarta each week and finally meeting "Golfer" in one of my trips! LOL.... Fast-forward a couple of years, I was fortunate to find a job with Royal Caribbean International as a Customer Service Agent in San Juan (where I am from) I was just a Junior in HS, and my part-time job consisted in Welcoming the guests at the airport, escorting them to the charter bus, and send them off to the ship! It was so much fun and forever cemented my love for the cruise line! After one year on the job, one of the perks was that we could take any cruise and only pay $15 (YES! $15) per day per person, plus taxes(granted there were available cabins... No confirmation until 2 days prior)... so basically a 7day cruise out of SJU was $105 + taxes... I used to take a cruise, with family or friends at least 2-3 times a year (during summer time/no classes) and by the time they introduce the C&A benefits, I was Diamond as they gave us the "retroactive" credits from those cruises. I eventually left for the states to persue other interests and got married. My husband and I took our first cruise together after being married 3 months! Our first cruise was the Majesty! Since then, we have traveled several more times (Explorer, Empress, Majesty, and others in Carnival). We have been married 19yrs now, and travel with our 3 kids, which I hope I am passing on our love for cruising... We did our last cruise in RCCL back in 2007. After than we traveled Carnival as it was more cost efficient for a young family of 5, needing that extra space at a cheap price... But now that we are in a better financial place and we our kids can have their own cabin, we are cruising RCCL's Adventure this June 1st out of NJ, going to NE/Canada! We are so excited!!! I am so happy to be able to introduce my kids to a different kind of ship (the Fascination, Elation and Sunshine were small, not to be compared to the Adventure!) and also with RCCL standards... After that, we have booked The Empress going to Cuba in October!!! The Empress is one of my favorite ships and going to Cuba has been on my bucket list for quite sometime! My love affair with cruising (on RCCL) will never end! God grant us all the health to keep discovering the world by sea!

A person need not be a youngster of develop this impression. I was in my early 40s when I took my first cruise. It was on a Carnival Fantasy Class ship, not even huge in the day! But OMG...my friends and I were amazed at the size. It was almost incomprehensible.

Ironically, after a dozen or so cruises, I've come to realize I gravitate toward SMALLER (irony intended) ships. Radiance is my favorite RCL class. My next cruise will be on Celebrity Summit, my first Celebrity cruise, chosen based in part on her similarity to RCL's radiance class.

It doesn't matter if your ship accommodates 2,000 passengers or 5,000 passengers, the fact that you can vacation on a "city/village at sea" never ceases to amaze me, even after over a dozen cruises.

From day one Royal always said "World's Largest Cruise Ship"... It's GT is what they count, it's not like Roller Coasters Tallest, Fastest, Longest. And now Largest Cruise Ship is all thats said by all Cruise Lines... There is a distinction in Ocean Liner and Cruise ship as I said. Norway as built for speed(until they removed half her engines), Luxury, Deep Draft was like Queen Mary/Elizabeth, why she was long and narrow, nothing like Cruise ships which have flat bottom, tall and wide...

So my cruise on the Norway was not on a cruise ship? It sure felt like a cruise ship to me. I get what you are saying but that has to be the dumbest distinction I’ve ever heard of (I know it isn’t your distinction). Seriously by that logic the biggest jet aircraft don’t count because they are designed for long haul flights. We could use this logic to eventually prove the 737 is the largest jet aircraft in the world. Lol.

By the way Norway was wider than sovereign. Who cares if it was built for speed or Atlantic crossings. It was a Caribbean cruise ship in the 80s and 90s and for a stretch was the largest in spite of what royal said. Just ask every passenger on the Norway who was told it was the largest.

I can only imagine in the early 90s being told you were on the largest cruise ship in the world. Then you pull up next to the Norway and wonder why she was like 150 to 200 feet longer and seemed to dwarf the “largest ship” the sovereign.

With all this said I think we all find the magic in every ship we cruise in.

Sovereign was a very special ship, sailed it several times in late 80’s and 90’s and got engaged on it in 1990, then bought engagement ring next day while docked in st thomas

I cannot forget how during our very first cruise on Celebrity Century we were docked near Explorer of the Seas which was twice the size Century was. I looking at Explorer with fascination and telling my 11 years old son what a great ship Explorer was.

He looks at me with a smile and says

- Mom, don't you think our ship is great?!

In some regards Century was even better. :)

I don't think the magic is confined to cruise ships. I think it is part of ships in general. I grew up on an island (Nantucket) and was in love with the steamers that serviced it. Every day I was down on the docks watching the boats come and go. Always got so excited when we would be doing a crossing to the "other side" mainland to visit family and then returning home. Our first cruise when I actually got to live on a ship, Celebrity Horizon, for a week was very special.

One thingI don’t understand is that the Norway was bigger in 1993 so why do people say sovereign was the largest back then. I’ve seen this stated on many threads.

 

Norway was bigger in GT 76k and was longer. Was it height they were using?

No idea but RCI used the "largest ship in the world" messaging wherever they could in their marketing!

I don't think the magic is confined to cruise ships. I think it is part of ships in general. I grew up on an island (Nantucket) and was in love with the steamers that serviced it. Every day I was down on the docks watching the boats come and go. Always got so excited when we would be doing a crossing to the "other side" mainland to visit family and then returning home. Our first cruise when I actually got to live on a ship, Celebrity Horizon, for a week was very special.

Totally agree. I geek out whenever I see a A380 at an airport or in the air :)

Right before I started high school in 1993, my mom and I cruised on Sovereign of the Seas - the biggest cruise ship in the world at the time. I remember this ship being HUGE compared to anything I've ever seen, especially next to a much smaller RCI ship we sailed on in Mexico. I remember being in awe that had 13 floors (according to the elevator), getting lost on the ship and never running out of new areas to explore. I swear both my mom and I suffered post cruise depression for two weeks after we went home.

 

Fast forward to 2007, my mom and I went up to Alaska and sailed on Splendour of the Seas. Coming upon it, I was sad to see it was so much smaller than the Sovereign. I figured the Caribbean was more accommodating to large vessels, and a ship needed to be small and nimble to navigate the Alaskan straits. Hmm...

 

I finally looked up numbers today and was shocked at how wrong I was. Tonnage wise, Splendour is 69,130 GT, Sovereign is 73,192 GT -- only a fraction of a difference! (Note: according to stats on Wikipedia).

 

Then I looked up pictures of Sovereign and I couldn't believe it. Looking at it now it looks so tiny.

 

The point of this post is how magical it can be to encounter a magnificent cruise ship. That experience left such an impression of my tween self, that for years I held this illusion that Sovereign was the biggest, baddest b!tch on the seas.

 

Even more insane, my family and I are booked on Symphony this summer. Again, we are going to be on the reigning biggest cruise ship in the world. Symphony is 228,081 GT!! That three times the size of Sovereign!! I can't wait for my mind to be blown again.

In 1982, my first cruise was on Carnival's Mardi Gras. Thought this info. was interesting. Rough start for Carnival.

http://cruiselinehistory.com/carnival-cruises-mardis-gras-the-first-fun-ship-and-former-cp-liner-rms-empress-of-canada/

We loved the Sovereign [emoji7] I think we also still prefer “smaller” ships.

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Although I had dreamed about going on a cruise for many years, I didn't go on my first one until I was 45 years old. It was on the Norwegian Sea. She was 42,000 tons. I fell in love with cruising on that ship. :hearteyes:

I remember cruising on the Norway in the early 90's and hearing a guy complaining as we were waiting to enter the Norway's old second class dining room. Kept comparing the ship to Sovereign which was pretty new at the time. I just ignored it as the Norway was priced much lower than Sovereign and it began my fondness for older ships.

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The newest megaships truly are engineering and design marvels, and for me and my wife the ship is the destination. Keep in mind that gross tonnage is a measure of interior volume. If Oasis class had a lid on Central Park and Boardwalk the GT would likely be much higher.

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Although I had dreamed about going on a cruise for many years, I didn't go on my first one until I was 45 years old. It was on the Norwegian Sea. She was 42,000 tons. I fell in love with cruising on that ship. :hearteyes:

The magic began for me on NCL's 28,000 ton Sunward. Lucky enough to go on Norwegian Sea also a few years later. It was even more magical going on NCL's Leeward years later in 1999. A small 25,000 ton ship belonging to a mainstream cruise line was very rare at that time.

I can completely relate to your feelings. Cruise ship are magical and do leave lasting impressions for many young kids (and adults too).

The magic for me started in the late 80's as a tween on NCL to the Caribbean and 2nd was on Royal in the early 90's. I can't remember the name of the ship for sure...but I think it was the Song of America to the Mexican Riviera. I have been hooked ever since and have hooked both my DH, DS and DD.

I think the passion and allure (ha, see what I did there?!?) of cruising is in my blood as my father came to the United States in the early 60's via Cruise Ship from Rome to NY. He and his family left all they had behind in Communist Eastern Europe in search of freedom and the American dream. To this day, my father fondly looks back on his voyage to the U.S. even if it was in 3rd class steerage and he and my mom love to cruise as well.

Yeah, the Oasis class will WOW you for their size, that's for sure.

Dan

I have cruised on the Sovereign of the Seas twice. Back in 1989 when she was new and then in the 90’s. I loved that ship! My first cruise was on a very old Carnival ship. We had fun but the ship wasn’t what we expected. The Sovereign was our second cruise. I remember walking into the Atrium area and thinking how beautiful the ship was and how was what I had expected a ship to be.